The best hiking routes in Vysočina Region

The Vysočina Region offers a highland landscape of rolling hills, spruce forests, and small agricultural fields rather than dramatic alpine peaks or deep canyons. Walking here means navigating a high-altitude plateau where the weather shapes the vegetation, often leading to damp, peat-filled hollows and granite boulder fields. Underfoot, you will mostly encounter a mix of packed dirt forestry tracks, grassy field paths, and occasional rocky trails where tree roots grip the thin soil.

To the north, CHKO Žďárské vrchy represents the rugged core of the region, characterized by dark coniferous forests, wind-bent trees, and striking granite rock towers like Devět skal that break through the canopy. The paths here often cross damp peat meadows on wooden boardwalks, reflecting the headwater nature of the landscape. In contrast, the smaller CHKO Železné hory offers a more transitional terrain where the plateau drops down, featuring deeper forested ravines, limestone areas, and ruins that blend into the deciduous woodland.

Choosing between them depends on the atmosphere you prefer. CHKO Žďárské vrchy feels more highland and exposed, particularly in late autumn when the beech and spruce forests thin out, while CHKO Železné hory provides more sheltered, varied valley walks. Both areas are crossed by a dense network of reliable Czech hiking markers, though the well-known rock formations in Žďárské vrchy naturally attract more visitors on weekends than the quieter forest paths of the iron mountains.